MACAU—Manny Pacquiao won’t utter a word, but he’s bent on disposing off Brandon Rios real quick. Say two rounds.
“When I said like you knock him out in six, and he look at me and said six? And he goes like this,” said trainer Freddie Roach, raising two fingers to indicate the round Pacquiao wants his foe to fall. “And Manny Pacquiao has never done that to me in my life.”
Roach and Pacquiao will review, rehearse and execute their fight strategy one last time on Friday.
The training will be very light, virtually a walk-through, just for Pacquiao to sweat it out prior to the official weigh-in on Saturday morning here.
Former two-time world champion Gerry Peñalosa believes Rios won’t last the distance.
Peñalosa said Rios’ come-forward style is tailor-made for Pacquiao.
“If he (Rios) gets past six rounds, he’ll be my idol,” said Peñalosa.
Roach is taking all this, though, with guarded optimism.
“We’re not going to go stupid and just look for a knockout. Manny is a better fighter than that,” said Roach. “When you go and look for something, you usually don’t get it. Manny will just box him and the knockout will come.”
Roach sees no problem with Pacquiao making weight. The Filipino ring icon hovers at the 147-pound limit even as he eats heartily the meals especially prepared for him by assistant trainer Nonoy Neri, who is in charge of Pacquiao’s nutrition here.